The present invention relates to a new and distinct cultivar of Ajuga reptans, given the name, ‘Blueberry Muffin’. Ajuga is in the family Lamiaceae. This plant originated from a naturally occurring meristematic mutation of Ajuga ‘Chocolate Chip’ (an unpatented plant with the synonym ‘Valfredda’). The mutated plant was found in a garden at an Oregon nursery.
Ajuga ‘Blueberry Muffin’ is unique in its combination of vigor, small chocolate brown narrow leaves, and mounding, creeping habit.
Compared to Ajuga ‘Chocolate Chip’, the new cultivar is more vigorous. It fills a 1 gallon pot quickly and has a mounding instead of a creeping habit when young. In its first spring in the ground from a one gallon it has spread to 40 cm wide in Canby, Oregon. Ajuga ‘Blueberry Muffin’ has leaves that are broader near the tip and shorter than Ajuga ‘Chocolate Chip’.
The new variety has been reproduced only by asexual propagation (division, cuttings, and micropropagation from apical buds). Each of the progeny exhibits identical characteristics to the original plant. Asexual propagation by division, cuttings and micropropagation by apical buds as done in Canby, Oreg., shows that the foregoing characteristics and distinctions come true to form and are established and transmitted through succeeding propagations. The present invention has not been evaluated under all possible environmental conditions. The phenotype may vary with variations in environment without a change in the genotype of the plant.